He also, like many people, had an uneducated aversion towards morphine, so he tried everything else first.
Diclofenac (another NSAID) was his favorite pill, which ultimately wiped out virtually all the platelets from his blood, and caused systematic internal bleeding.
Of all the conventional things, I'd say Fentanyl patch was most effective with least side-effects, but his pain was 24/7. By far the worst drugs were Tramadol and corticosteroids. Don't even wanna go into that...